New Engine - Switch to Synth. Oil
 

I've just finished rebuilding my engine. It's got approx. 300 miles on it now. I've already decided that I'm going to run synthetic in it, as I did before I rebuilt it.

I'm going to change the oil in about 200 more miles, but I don't know whether to run another pan full of regular oil or switch to synthetic at this oil change.

The car hasn't/doesn't smoke, and it runs fine. I know there's probably no harm in sticking with regular oil for another change, but I would like to get switched to the synthetic for the sake of wear.

What are your thoughts?

ive heard you need regular oil initially to let the pieces wear correctly. the z06 comes stock with synthetic. IMHO your fine either way. my neighbor just put a new stroked s/c 33X in his mustang and did all regular oil for the first 500 then switched.

david

Right, you need regular oil to help the rings seat, etc. I'm leaning towards changing to synthetic after about the 3rd oil change.

Fred

So Do That :D

:p Fine, I will! ;)

:thumb:

10,000 miles is probably a safe changeover time. Erring on the side of caution and all that.

I wouldn't even wait the 3 oil changes that he wants too, but it won't hurt. I'd be more worried about breaking in my cam correctly rather than rings...

Rings are made differently nowadays and do not require the break in periods that they needed back in the day.

I'd use synthetic from the beginning just change it at the first 500.

I had heard people say that before, but I hadn't really thought about it. If the Z06 uses synthetic, straight from mile #1... what does that say about the use of regular oil to break in an engine?

Yes, regular is a cheaper alternative, but disregarding that attribute, what's to say that using synthetic from the very beginning is going to make any difference than using the usual stuff?

Is the recommended practice of using regular oil just an old tradition or has Chevy come up with a different method that allows them to use synthetic immediately?

Fred

When you're in bed with Mobil 1, you tend to use their flagship product, in your flagship car ;)

My car got 3k on it now and I just switched. I was like everyone else and was gonna change it out with 500 miles on it. But when I went to pick up my Redline Synthetic oil, on the bottle itself it said not to use until your engine has 3k on it. The way I figure if they're saying it, which means money out of their pockets, it must be true.

good point

You can switch anytime you want and it won't hurt a thing but with a rebuilt engine you often want to do a lot of frequent changes at first since you'll have more "stuff" in your oil than you would with a factory fresh motor. Rebuilds tend to have more assembly lube and the likes in the oil, so it's a good idea to do at least 3 short oil change intervals with cheap oil.

If it were me, I'd do one oil change about 100 miles after the rebuild, then a second oil change at about 500 miles, then a third one at about 3000 miles, at which point I would then go with synthetic oil.

If I bought a brand new vehicle, I'd run the factory fill out to 3000 miles, then immediately switch to synthetic oil.

Yeeeahhhh. That's what I did.:D Hmmmmm. did I get that idea from you Patster? Probably.;)